Not a laughing matter
by Blinking Cursor
Summary: He is Hyuuga Natsume, 25, rich and sexy. He has a confession to make, he thinks he’s gay. He’s in love with that sweet brunette, honey brown eyed boy, not knowing that the ‘boy’ is actually a ‘girl’. God, save him.
1. Chapter 1

**A Gakuen Alice Fanfiction**

Disclaimer: _**I don't own Gakuen Alice**_

Genre: _Humor/Romance_

Summary:_ He is Natsume Hyuuga, 25, rich and sexy. He has a confession to make, he thinks he's gay. He's in love with that sweet brunette, honey brown eyed boy, not knowing that the 'boy' is actually a 'girl'. God, save him._

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* * *

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**Not a laughing matter**

By: _Blinking Cursor  
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* * *

_**Present time**_

A mystery would be solved today. It was the moment of truth most people in the world, if not, Japan, had anticipated. Their long last hungers would soon be satisfied. The elusive, twenty five years old, rich, powerful and not to mention attractive, crimson eyed _Hyuuga Natsume_ would reveal the _truth_ of the scandals that revolved around him of late.

Speculations were made, some were realistic and some were beyond the comprehension of human mind and the universe. However, it was decided among the female population that the announcement would be him, Hyuuga Natsume, ending his bachelorhood with his special one.

Male population in general, as opposed to the female population, had hoped that the announcement would be the _downfall_ of the Hyuuga Natsume. The popular young man, (though a bit on the cold side) after all had captured every girl's attention, leaving them nothing but trail of dust.

Everyone took a deep breath when the expected man was showed live on every screen. They were stumped for a while when the man appeared to be very much anti-Hyuuga Natsume like. His hair was stuck out at every worst possible place, face unshaven, his face thin and frail, he was the epitome of tiredness and sloppiness. However, his signature crimson eyes confirmed that he was really _the_ Hyuuga Natsume.

* * *

Natsume Hyuuga squirmed in his chair; he ruffled his already messy hair and shut his eyes. He hadn't sleep for three days and he could feel how it was affecting him now. He couldn't focus at a single person without seeing doubles. But this would end. Soon, he would be able to see _that person_ again.

"Natsume, are you sure you want to go through this?" A voice snapped him out of his melancholy thoughts.

He turned tiredly at the blue-eyed blond besides him, Nogi Ruka. The blue eyed blond was his best friend and had always supported him. However, after learning his plan, he didn't look that much supportive, in fact he kept trying to say something that Natsume didn't bother to listen.

"Yes, my life depends on this."

"But-"

"Ruka," Natsume interrupted with a warning tone in his voice, "I've set up my mind and there's no turning back."

The blond could only sigh, he knew Natsume wouldn't listen to him, it was too late to go back now, and everything had gone as planned.

Natsume stared into the crowds from the stage, every eye on him. He took the microphone, "I'm Hyuuga Natsume," He paused; everyone in the press conference leaned forward, trying not to miss any single word coming from him. He showed a photograph of him with a short smiling brunette young man, "His name is Sakura Mikan, I think I'm in love with him."

* * *

Meanwhile, the said Sakura Mikan was staring at the television screen in pure horror, some of the popcorn in hand didn't quite reach the mouth. However, this Sakura Mikan was obviously a female instead of a male. Her face turned deep red when everything that the famous Hyuuga had said registered into her mind, "Hyuuga, you idiot!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Not a laughing matter**

By: _Blinking Cursor

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_**Six months prior of the present time**_

**Natsume's POV**

Hyuuga Natsume's curse was loud enough to make all employees of Special Star Corps., male and female, scampering away to their work desks and avoiding the crimson eyed man's office. They knew better not to be within the same vicinity as the said person. It wouldn't matter how sexy and handsome their employer was, when mad, he had quite a dragon's temper himself. Frankly speaking, they even believe that he breathed fire.

"Sakura, my office, NOW!"

It was after a loud raging crash that his loud voice was heard from his room. He probably had shouted over his two lungs and thus defeating the purpose of the intercom set on his desk.

Everyone shot a pitying glance at the object of the dragon man's wrath, _Sakura Mikan_, his latest assistant of the week. His previous assistants never last for a week. They couldn't deal with his temper.

This particular brunette had worked in the company for two weeks now, but that was during the time when their dragon employer had gone on a vacation. They sighed, that cheery young assistant would be gone by tomorrow. Too bad, but such a life, it was a matter of survival, if you couldn't survive, better be dead.

* * *

Natsume Hyuuga seethed and puffed in annoyance while waiting for the said Sakura. Irritation was sketched on his face clearly, every single minuscule details. His eyes strayed onto the crushed intercom on the floor, wishing that it was the new assistant instead. He quickly shook off the murderous thoughts and tried to calm his mind.

He sighed silently, how could this happen in just _two weeks_ of his absence? He thought wryly, while crimson eyes glaring dagger at the mountain of unsettled paperwork he had been dealing with for the past few hours, which for him, seemed like a dragging eternity. He returned from his vacation only to find out he had to deal with hell. And that hell includes losing a good and capable assistant and getting that idiot, klutz and good for nothing boy his father had hired. His father even had the gall to warn him not to sack that idiot or he wouldn't receive his inheritance.

'_Remember Natsume, if you fired Sakura Mikan, you won't get anything, not even a tiny speckle of dust.'_ He clenched his fingers as his father's voice rang inside his mind. Talk about blackmail. _What's so special about him anyway?_

A short and petite brunette clad in a rather large and dull grey shirt and black pants rushed into his workplace and stumbled over the crushed intercom on the floor when reaching his desk. Natsume rolled his eyes in exasperation. That was probably the fourth time that the young boy fell on his own foot. Or maybe it was his fault, throwing the intercom on the floor, but he didn't feel guilty whatsoever. That klutz should be aware of his surrounding.

The brunette quickly stood, cheery, honeyed brown eyes met his gaze, "Mr. Hyuuga, how may I help you?"

Natsume frowned at the smile flashed at him. He hated _the_ smile, it was very annoying. How can the boy easily smile knowing that he would be in a very, very deep trouble? _Maybe an insane one? _He answered glumly to his own thoughts.

"Care to explain why you did all these stupid errors?" He asked, shoving a handful of paper, nearly slapping the brunette's face.

"Ah-" The brunette's eyes widened, his smile slowly faded, "That-"

Natsume sighed, burying his face into his palms, ignoring the brunette's rambles. Someone above must hate him to make him deal with this catastrophe. He quickly took a deep breath and looked back at the boy in front of him, all the while scrutinizing the young boy's attire in sheer distaste; it was nothing like his expensive designer suit. He suddenly wondered why the boy didn't follow the office dress code. He was working in an elite class company after all.

"-Sorry, I will check it again."

Natsume was quickly snapped out from his own musing and looked at the face of the person in front of him. "What did you say?"

"I _said_, I'm sorry, I will check it again." A hint of annoyance was evident in the brunette's voice but Natsume just shrugged it off.

"Make sure, next time when you submit them, there shouldn't be any errors or you will be fired."

The brunette shuddered and quickly nod and was about to leave for the door when. . .

"Oh and boy!" Natsume called, eyeing the person in front of him who only gave him a confused stare, "Dress better, and discard that ugly garb."

The brunette remained footed to the ground, his mouth slowly morphing into a surprised big 'O' shape before it closed back again. Irritation was slowly drawn onto his face, he looked rather offended, "Mr. Hyuuga, for _your information_, I'm not a bo---"

SLAM!

The door slammed open and a voice interrupted, "Natsume!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Not a laughing matter**

By: _Blinking Cursor

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_**Six months prior to the present time**_

**Mikan's POV**

Sakura Mikan could only smile, _yes_, smile widely at the _'stupid'_, _'arrogant'_, _'annoying' _man who thought he was above everyone else, never mind the fact that he was such a sexy handsome man. Yes, _the_ Hyuuga Natsume, her current employer. This was her last chance to prove to her grandfather she could survive without his money. She couldn't afford losing this job after all that pain she had to go through.

_"You are spoiled Mikan, too spoiled." _Her grandfather had said,_ "I don't know how to deal with you anymore…" _He shook his head gently, his elderly face looked heartbroken,_ "I don't want to do this but this is my last resort, wake up, Mikan, wake up from this fairy tale you had spun."_

After her grandfather had said that she had awakened in a foreign land, alone and lost, without money and food. Dressed in ugly garbs she would usually cast away. It was worse when she found out, her much prized long shiny hair had been cut short. She would have concluded that she was kidnapped but with her grandfather's letter in her hand, she knew it was planned. She smiled grimly, she saluted the old man. With the letter, she had arrived at the _Special Star Corps._ Seeking for a job she would never dream of committing.

She thought she would survive, she thought she would last, but she thought wrong. The arrival of the man she was supposed to assist had shattered all thoughts. A _mean_ (sexy) fire breathing dragon had come at last to terrorize her day, to make her life a pure living hell. And now she was facing him just because of one _minute_ error. Well, maybe not that small but it was _just_ a one time error. She apologized, one thing her pride would never allow her to do before.

"Make sure, next time when you submit them, there shouldn't be any errors or you will be fired."

She shuddered at the thought of him firing her and hoped that would never happen to her. She nodded and was about to leave when his words stumped her completely.

"Oh and _boy_, dress better and discard those ugly garbs."

He called her a _boy_. She was miffed, mad, annoyed, irritated and extremely insulted beyond reasons. She knew she was wearing an overly large _ugly_ big sweater that could nearly fit two people of her size. She knew she was wearing _ugly_ long big pants that would slip of her waist if not for the belt that securing it to her waist. She knew she was sporting a short messy bowl style hair not to mention zero fashion sense and again _ugly_, no thanks to her grandfather. At least it was not bald. She knew she was broke and now looking _ugly_. She knew she was exaggerating too much though some of what she claimed might ring true. But she didn't know she was capable of looking like a _boy_.

"Mr. Hyuuga, for your information, I'm not a bo---"

The door slammed open, and a loud cry of "Natsume!" drowned her voice.

A tall flamboyant blond haired man entered the office with a huge grin on his face, dressed in a strikingly purple with white stripes suit with a touch of a bedazzled black fedora. That struck her as quite tacky. "You didn't tell me you are back from vacation, Natsume!" He squealed.

The blond man ran past her and was about to pull her boss into a big hug when the man quickly pulled away, "That's _Mr. Hyuuga_, you Yellow Monkey."

The blond pouted before his eyes met the brunette that was now staring open-mouthed at their exchange. "Oh my god, Natsume, who is he?" He walked around her, a smile slowly snaking its way on his face when he faced Natsume.

Natsume rolled his eyes, "Oh no, you are not going to make him into your bloody experiment."

"But he has potential, Natsume!" The blond retorted, shuffling her hair while doing so. "In fact he will be my best experiment!"

"No." Her boss's answer was solid. "In no way you can take my employee as your experiment; my experience with you in the past knows how much torture it was for me."

"Are you sure Natsume?" Narumi asked. His eyes were twinkling in mischief. "I thought you love it!"

Natsume looked pensive for a while, "Now that you said it…" His voice trailed away and Narumi was about to dance in victory when, "No!"

"Natsume…" Narumi whined pulling a quick puppy-eyed.

Mikan stared at them. Honestly, her shock at being called a _boy_ hadn't settled and now seeing the blond man wearing such an outrageous outfit nearly sent her into a terminal heart attack. It didn't help for the fact that the man had casually asked her boss about making her the next experiment. Just thinking of it had given her goose bumps.

"I'm sorry for interrupting uh your uh gays moment," She had really wanted to say _'guys moment'_ but her tongue just slipped. Well, it was pretty much aided with what she had seen and heard earlier. They were acting and talking rather strangely much to her comfort and right now she just wanted to hit her head and wished the floor to swallow her whole. "Uh I mean guys moment, yeah, just o inform that I'm still here."

Both males stared at her before the blond one broke into boisterous laugh, "Gay moment, that's funny. That really fits us, don't you think, Natsume?"

Natsume scoffed and glared at both of them, "I'm not gay and God knows how many women you slept with last night."

Narumi chuckled, "Well, it just amuses me really, just because I dress differently, people just call me gay, kids these days, shows how much stereotyping they are doing. Just because I care for my complexion, how I dress, how sensitive I----"

"Uh, I don't mean to offend." Mikan quickly apologized.

Narumi stopped and then laughed again, "Oh no, you are far too cute to offend people!" His eyes twinkling in mischief, "Forget Natsume, I'll do it!" He pulled her arm and ran away with her on tow, "Bye Natsume!"

Natsume could only blink before everything registered in his mind, "Narumi!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Not a laughing matter**

By: _Blinking Cursor

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_**Six months prior to present time**_

**Natsume's POV**

Hyuuga Natsume's eyes twitched in annoyance as the _ticking_ sound of the grandfather clock behind him became apparent to his ears. It had been only twenty minutes since Narumi and that _good-for-nothing-assistant's _latest escapade. He couldn't help but kept on thinking about the latter. He sighed, giving a tell-tale sign of worries over one of the two male.

He couldn't comprehend his current distress. _Heck_! He just met that boy with that, that annoyingly big _brown beautiful_ eyes today. He shook his head quickly to clear his mind but imagining that naïve looking boy fell into wrong hand, such as_ Narumi_, did not bode well with his current thought.

He turned his attention back to the presentation folder lying open on his table, one that was prepared by the brunette boy and started working on it, albeit reluctantly. After the first three pages he cursed aloud, shoving his palms into his hair, "Shit, shit, shit, damn it!"

The more he tried to stop thinking about the brunette (with those big radiant happy eyes) the wilder his imagination had became. Without much thought, he jumped off his chair, grabbed his coat and keys and stormed off of his lavished office. At that very moment a blond figure was heading his direction, which he pretty much ignored.

"Natsume, where are you going?" Gentle blue eyes stared at him. "I thought we are having an important meeting right now?"

Natsume stopped right inside the elevator and faced the blond, assessing him for a short while before saying, "Cancel it, a moron's life with beautiful eyes needs saving right now-" Natsume's voice trailed off as the elevator door closed shut with a loud _ding_!

* * *

Nogi Ruka could only stared, his fair brows lifted so high that they nearly reached the hairline. His mind was spinning with many questions which one of them being: _What makes Natsume Hyuuga so worked up? _His cell phone rang twice and he quickly answered them seeing that Natsume's father's name flashing on the screen.

"Ah, Mr. Hyuuga," He said, trying to keep his professional voice up to notch. "I'm sorry sir, he cancelled it." He winced when Hyuuga Senior's voice turned louder, obviously in anger and that annoyed Ruka very, very much.

_Why me?_ He thought bitterly, after a couple of seconds listening to the older man demanding for an answer, he replied as calm as he could, "Well, Mr. Hyuuga, apparently, your son decided that today he wants to be a _superman_."

* * *

Hyuuga Natsume threw his cell phone at the passenger seat and hit the steering wheel repeatedly. Saying he was furious was an understatement, he was extremely furious. That idiotic blond-headed monkey, namely Narumi, had switched off his cell phone to avoid him. He needed that yellow monkey's location; he could not go around and asked random people where that man was, could he? No, that would spoil his sense of superiority and pride.

He thought of many possible places where that yellow monkey could be, but he was greeted with surprise, surprise, _a dead end_. He stopped his car at the side and calmed himself. Narumi could be anywhere with Mikan Sakura. He frowned when his assistant name came into his mind, his name sounded uncannily like one that belonged to a female and that name was somehow familiar. So feminine. However, seeing that this was an alternate universe where everything impossible made sense, he just shrugged it off.

He stopped at the random thought, shaking his head. He was going insane; he didn't understand what he was thinking about. For all he knew, he would probably say he could summon fire and blasted half of the world.

His eyes stared at the GPS in his car and his face broke into a huge conniving grin that matched the devil himself. He remembered installing a special sensor in Narumi's car seeing how much that man kept on shirking from his responsibility.

_I got you now, Narumi…you think you can hide from me?_ He drove his car towards the directed location and stopped at a large shopping mall. _Mall?_ Natsume thought incredulously as he stepped out of his car, sporting a dark sporty eye wear and loosened his dark blue ties, going for a casual look.

_It won't be hard searching for them, right?_ He thought as he stepped inside the particular shopping mall.

* * *

Hyuuga Natsume thought wrong. It was a large place and he was currently on the fourth floor out of seven. One floor took him more than an hour, providing that he was actually running. He silently cursed the person who thought of constructing this monstrosity but stopped when it came to him that he was the owner of the said shopping mall.

At long last he reached one store, though doubting that Narumi would ever be there, he still entered and much to his delight; he spotted the yellow monkey, though his assistant was no where in sight.

"Narumi!"

The said Narumi turned to him, smiling widely as if nothing had happened. He marched towards the handsome crimson eyed man and quickly hugged him.

"Natsume, you are here!" He said in a voice too happy much to his annoyance. He never understood how someone could be that happy.

He narrowed his eyes and pushed away from the older male embrace, "Where is my assistant?" He demanded.

"You miss him already?" Narumi cooed, eyes twinkling, "Well, you will see him later Natsume. Oh, he is so cute, you wouldn't believe it!"

"Uh, Mr. Narumi," An almost feminine voice came out from the dressing room.

"Ow, Mikan, I thought I told you to just call me Narumi." Narumi sighed, apparently depressed over the brunette reluctance to just call him Narumi.

"I'm done."

"Well, come out, show the world or maybe _show Mr. Hyuuga here _how cute you are,"

"Mr. Hyuuga?!" A squeaky voice came out, again female sounding. "No, not him, not him…"

Natsume could only roll his eyes and was slightly offended with the negative response. What was wrong with seeing him? He was not that ugly looking. Heck even the Oh-so-popular web announced he was in top 10 of gorgeous men alive.

"Ow, come on Mikan, I'm just kidding. Come out, come out."

The boy finally came out and was greeted with Narumi's everlasting smile and finally the _dreaded_ Mr. Hyuuga whose jaws had currently dropped five feet into the ground, crimson eyes widened to an impossible stretch, and face turning into ten shades of red. He was literally speaking: _Shock beyond word! _


	5. Chapter 5

**Not a laughing matter**

By: _Blinking Cursor

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_

_**Six months prior to the present time**_

**Mikan's POV**

Mikan Sakura was absolutely alarmed when the tall, flamboyant blond man grabbed and pulled her off to somewhere. Her imagination ran wild and an image of her being gagged and bound with rainbow coloured socks crept into her mind. She tried to struggle off the man's grip and was rewarded with being slammed and forced onto a soft comfy cushion.

_Soft cushion? _She thought in horror, her eyes tightly shut. If her imagination had turned out that bad, the real deal must be absolutely bad. She cracked an eye open and found herself seated in a car and well, on a sporty one at that! Her jaws were left hanging and her face was a clear picture of sheer surprise.

She froze when she felt a soft palm pushed her lower jaw up and that was when she registered what the blond man was currently saying.

"---you don't want a fly to get into your mouth, do you?"

Her face turned beet red and the fact that she was caught staring with jaws hanging open embarrassed her even more. It wasn't like she never been in a car, she did, but that was a long time ago before her grandfather in a sense kicked her out. She shook her head and looked down her open palms. The blond laughed, his eyes twinkling in obvious mischief which did not bode well to her current thought.

"So." The man started while revving up the engine. "I'm Narumi and you are?"

"Sakura Mikan." She answered reluctantly. Who knew what the man would do if she refused to answer him.

"Well, Mikan Sakura today is your lucky day!"

* * *

It was more like her _unlucky_ day. The fact that she managed to be a complete dunderhead in front of her fire-breathing boss and later crowned as a boy didn't escape her. The later part was utterly frustrating and kept taunting her mind. Now, she was with a tall creepy person who insisted she was _one_ no matter how she tried to tell him she was in fact, a _real_ girl. He simply ignored it and threw more cloth at her direction.

_Men, they never listen! _She rolled her eyes heavenward and gone straight into the fitting room for at least the nth times. She had lost count at around the thirteenth times and that was to her complete frustration was an unlucky number.

"You are going to be the cutest one in the company,"

She sighed completely ignoring what Mr. Narumi was rambling on. On her first day meeting her boss she had made an awful impression and exactly on the same day she had left without his permission. Well, more like kidnapped anyway. End result of this whole disastrous event would be the scary Hyuuga Natsume killing her and she could imagine pictures of her dead body in the news. The horror!

Or maybe just simply sacking her, which would be much simpler. He wouldn't want to dirty his hands and got himself in trouble. She felt a sudden feeling of relief washed over her but then getting fired would mean that she, Mikan Sakura was as _useless_ as what her grandfather had said countless. _A good for nothing, a burden, and a brat_. That hurt badly, she did try her best for this job. She wasn't fooling around it was just that difficult being alone in the land of strangers.

Voices from outside her dressing room snapped her out of her thought, she had automatically dressed herself. She peeked outside, seeing only Narumi's back.

"Uh, Mr. Narumi?" She asked moving back into the dressing room when she heard the man in question chastising her calling him '_Mister'_ which she pointedly ignored. "I'm done."

"Well, come out, show the world or maybe _show Mr. Hyuuga here _how cute you are,"

"Mr. Hyuuga?!" She was terrified, the man had come down here by himself just to kill her. She envisioned herself in tomorrow's headline: **A Girl found dead, straggled in red expensive GUCCI scarf.**She shivered. The fact that she had conjured the image of the killing tool bothered her more. "No, not him, not him!"

"Ow, come on Mikan, I'm just kidding. Come out, come out."

Her panic dissipated slowly as she learnt that it was only a joke and slowly came out of the dressing room. That was when she came face to face (with his chest anyway) with the one and only, Hyuuga Natsume. She felt like fainting, all the blood drained off her face. With all the courage she could muster she looked up at his face and had the chance to witness an interesting display on her boss's face.

His face which at first looked angry had turned into confusion with his hanging jaws and that was when it had gotten more interesting: His face turning a deep red. Wow, she must be really pretty for him to have that kind of reaction. She even rendered him speechless seeing how he was making an imitation of a goldfish.

It was later when she found out the truth when his shoulders were shaking suspiciously. He was smiling and that sent shivers throughout her whole body. The smiling Hyuuga Natsume was even scarier than an angry Hyuuga Natsume on normal day. She backed away and her face paled and it was then that he laughed.

"You looked like a _mini version_ of Narumi!" He choked out the words, one hand clutching his side while the other banging the wall.

It took a few seconds for Mikan to sink the information and apparently so did the mentioned Narumi, "Hey!" Both of them yelled. "What did you mean by that?"

Natsume laughed even louder, "Well, without the blond hair anyway."

Narumi sighed, "There goes my experiment."

Mikan stayed silent, miffed at being called Narumi's mini version. She was inwardly cursing at the sky. The day couldn't get any better. Mistaken as a boy: _Bad_ and compared as Narumi: _Awful_. She stared at the mirror, she did looked ridiculous when dressed this way, a pink coloured suit with silver sequins all over it, together with a purple coloured hat to complete the setting. She looked like a nightclub singer or as her boss told her, mini version of Narumi.

She sighed and stared closely at the mirror. It was then she realised that she did pass looking like a boy with the new hairdo courtesy of her _beloved _grandfather. She now understood why the ladies at the office had looked at her strange and that odd winking. Maybe she could continue being a boy. Nobody listened to her explanation anyway.

A hand placed on her shoulder snapped her out of her thought. The crimson eyed man hovered over her and strange smile on his face. "You are interesting. I'm going to keep you." 


	6. Chapter 6

**Not a laughing matter**

By: _Blinking Cursor

* * *

_

_**Six months prior to present time**_

**Natsume's POV**

**"You are interesting. I'm going to keep you."**

Hyuuga Natsume blanched when he realized what he had said. _I'll keep you_. Yes, and that didn't sound corny and gay at all. He thought sarcastically. He didn't know why he said that but he found the boy rather interesting and there was something about that him that really bothered him, something off. But he knew it compelled him to want to know more about him. A sudden thought struck him.

_Dear God, am I attracted to him? _He was utterly confused and lost, he never felt this way for someone and to be exact a male species. What was happening to him? It couldn't be stress could it? No, he just returned from his two weeks vacation from Bali, a very stress-free vacation.

It was when there was a loud THUD on the ground and the loss of heat from his palm did he realized that he had gone trance mode. Narumi was staring at him with a pensive looked upon his face as if he knew what was in his mind and the person he was holding previously had fainted on the floor.

"You do know that he is not some abandoned kitten you can bring home and keep, do you?" The yellow monkey had the nerve to ask him that with those irritating twinkling eyes. One day he would scoop them out and feed them to the birds.

He took a deep breath and glared at the tall blond, "What I meant is that he is interesting enough that he can keep his job, I will not fire him. Not that baseless assumption of yours."

Narumi's eyes suddenly turned sharp, "Of course you can't fire him. That was the deal you made with your father."

"You knew?" There was accusation in his voice. He got an inkling why Narumi had come to his office today.

"Of course and a whole lot more, I'm after all your father's confidante." The taller of the two smiled again as if he was never serious at the first place.

"So you are here to check up on my progress with my new assistant on my father's order?" He narrowed his eyes when Narumi just continued on smiling, "Well then, you see I'm keeping this boy, no worries." He picked up Sakura Mikan from the floor intending to send him home. It was late anyway, half an hour before nine.

"Of course, you do that or everything will be mine."

Natsume stopped what he was doing and looked for hints of lies in Narumi's eyes, he found none. He nodded and easily lifted the boy onto his shoulder. He was peculiarly light for someone his age and size. He quickly flashed a platinum credit card to pay for all the nonsense the boy was wearing and was about to leave the store when Narumi called out to him.

"What will happen if you lost interest in him, Natsume?"

He ignored the question and quickly left for his car and gently placed the boy on the passenger seat. "You are a real trouble, do you know that." He said to the sleeping figure, "Who are you Sakura Mikan?

* * *

He was in the middle of the road when he realised that he didn't know where the Mikan lived. He let out a sigh and stopped at the side suddenly that the car behind him gave out a long honk. He shook the boy's shoulders gently.

"Hey, wake up!" He said and the brunette seemed like he wouldn't wake up any sooner. He didn't even budge from the shaking. "Hey-" Natsume sighed again and stared at the sleeping figure and under the dimness of the street light did he realise that the boy looked peaceful and ethereal, feminine even. He studied his face: small, heart shaped face with clean porcelain skin, thick long eyelashes and that bow shape lips that he wanted so badly to ravish.

_Stop it, Natsume. _Warning bells in his head but his body ignored it and slowly closed the gap between him and the boy when suddenly big honeyed brown eyes opened up and looked directly into his crimson ones. _Damn._

"What are you doing, Mr. Hyuuga?"

Natsume was glad it was not that bright as his face was turning beet red, "I'm just checking if you are all right, you fainted in the store."

"Oh!" He looked around and seemed to realise that he was in a car rather than the cold floor of the store. "Where are we going?" The boy asked when the car started moving again.

"I'm sending you home." He answered, "Where do you live?"

From his peripheral view he could see that the brunette was panicking. For some reason he found that perplexing.

"Ah, there's no need for that, you can just leave me here. I can take a bus."

"It's quite late."

"It's okay, I can just walk, please stop, Mr. Hyuuga."

"You are my responsibility right now and I'm sending you home, like it or not."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me, now, where do you live?" He asked again, getting annoyed with every second of his hesitation to answer. He suddenly swerved to the side of the road and stopped his car and turned to look at the brunette. "Don't test my patient Mr. Sakura!"

The younger boy gulped and looked up at him, "To be honest, I'm homeless, so anywhere is fine."


	7. Chapter 7

**Not a laughing matter**

By: _Blinking Cursor_

* * *

_**Six months prior to present time**_

**Mikan's POV**

_**Homeless**_

It upset Mikan when she realised that she had just blurted out to him of her current living arrangement. She never intended to tell Hyuuga Natsume the truth, but she did. Too much pressure. Now, he must think that she's the worst sort of people. She looked down her lap, willing her blush down before she braved herself to look at her soon to be ex-boss right in the eyes.

He was looking at her, his face a varying degree of mixed emotions, it settled into incredulous at last, "Homeless?"

She remained silent in her seat, unwilling to answer his question and stared ahead at the empty road noting that several cars had passed them by. He grunted and she could see when she looked at him again that his brows almost connected to become one. Rage was slowly seeping into his eyes.

"Answer me!" He demanded impatient and she could sense that there was a silent _'or else'_ in his voice.

She nodded quickly. Too scare to answer him verbally.

"My worker is homeless?" His voice displeased, "What the hell is that Employee's Welfare Department is doing?"

Mikan was afraid quickly answering his answer not wanting the rage to escalate into something uglier than it already was, "Well, not really homeless. I do have a tent to sleep in-"

"A tent, A TENT?!" He roared and his grip on the steering wheels tightened.

_Bad move, Mikan._ She thought, startled by his loud voice. She was scared, if someone told her that Hyuuga Natsume is like a _timed bomb_ she would beg to differ, he's a worst than a timed bomb, he's a bomb that would keep on exploding with endless ammo. She took a deep breath, "It's not that bad, I met quite a lot of good people." _Who tries to steal her already scarce belongings..._

Her answer was followed by a long silence and she noticed that his knuckles had turned white. He was trying to contain his anger after his previous explosion.

"Why?" He asked breaking the silence. His voice was softer now and there was defeat in it laced with a trace of sadness. "Where are your family, your parents, where are they?" He continued. His face fixed with an unreadable expression. "Aren't they supposed to take care of you, why did they abandon you?"

_Why did they abandon you? _The last part of his question was like a poisoned arrow struck into her heart: Painful. It hurt her knowing that there was truth in it._ Abandoned, _that was her.

"My parents died, and my grandfather..." She paused, her voice hoarse and her throat dry as was her eyes. After so many nights crying her eyes out, she found out she couldn't cry anymore. "I-I'll just walk home."

She quickly opened the door when her wrist was grabbed. She looked up to see a guilt-ridden face.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry. We will think about it tomorrow."

* * *

Silence accompanied them the rest of the drive and they reached a quiet neighbourhood, one she would assume belonged to the rich and famous. The car slowed down at the gate of a modern styled home as opposed to a place she once called gate opened up and she was greeted with a simple, yet a very charming garden.

"Welcome to my humble abode." He said once he parked the car in the garage. "Come on." He said and motioned her to follow him inside the house.

She took in the decor of the room once inside. It was a neat home, emphasizing on contemporary style. But to her it seemed bare and gloomy, like a place barely lived in, too tidy, too spotless and too perfect like one you had seen in a magazine. _Too still_. She yawned and took a quick glance at the wall clock, and found out to her surprise was already quite late at 10 pm.

Sensing her tiredness he motioned her to follow him, "Come on, let's me show you to your room,"

They passed two closed doors before they climbed up the stairs and told her that was the kitchen and his office and library. He showed her to the room where she would stay for the night. She sat on the bed, studying the room not realising that he had left. It was not a big room, mind, but it was heaven compared to tent she had sleep for many nights. The walls painted in soft blue and white alternately, a study table pushed to the wall next to a book shelves, a wardrobe opposite her and there was a glass door she guessed leading to the balcony. She pushed herself deeper into the soft and snug mattress, _When was the last time she had a proper bed? _She thought and closed her eyes.

"Ah, these are the smallest shirt and trousers I can find, extra toothbrush and razor..." Her saviour for the night appeared in the room bringing her out of her musing. He shoved all the items in her hand, "and some boxers."

She stared at the items in hand and redness crept up her cheeks slowly seeing the said boxers at the top of the pile. _Oh eww, who shares underwear?_

Her thoughts must have shown on her face when he quickly added, somewhat annoyed, "It's new, I haven't worn them yet. Towel in the wardrobe and the bathroom is outside to your left. You can fix something to eat if you are hungry, make yourself at home."

With those simple instructions he left the room. That night for the first time after her being abandoned she slept peacefully.

* * *

5 am. Too early but Mikan found out she couldn't sleep any more after several tossing and turning on the bed. It was out of habit, she had to wake up early when she lived in the tent. She stared at the ceiling and let out a loud sigh when her stomach let out a loud rumbling. She didn't eat anything last night.

She took a quick shower and dressed up. She tip-toed downstairs to the kitchen afraid that she would wake up her temperamental boss. Who knows what he would do if he did, he didn't look like someone who wakes up early. _But he did say she can use the kitchen, didn't he?_ She thought as she opened the door and blinked at the cleanliness of everything, all brand new as if never been use. _Maybe he just got transferred to this place._ She reasoned and nodded dumbly at it.

She opened the fridge and nervously looked behind her. She's basically useless in other thing, but when it comes to cooking, she's good. It's that one thing that she really loves, something that's she's perfect at. She likes cooking because she knows that it will make other happy. Seeing the joyous face on others face when they eat her food warms her heart, it's also the fact that her late mother loved cooking.

Her happy smile turned into a frown when she looked inside the refrigerator. The lower part was empty saved for a few numbers of eggs, an opened carton of milk which she knew was already expired judging from its already coagulating form, a slice of half-eaten pizza and a couple of beer. She rolled her eyes._ Men!_ She took another look at the rest of fridge and let out a sigh of relief. _Well, it's now or never. _She pulled up her sleeves and picked up an apron and started doing her magic.

She ended up preparing meal for two. She took a glance at the clock for time, 6.45 am. She wondered if she should wake him up. She shuddered, deciding not to, she poured a hot cup of tea.

"Hmm, something smells good."

She was startled out of her stance and she stared at the figure standing at the other side of the table sniffing up the empty air. His hair completely mussed up from sleep and to her discomfiture he was only wearing his pyjama pants and his torso completely bare. She gulped, her face turning scarlet. _What a morning view._ She thought. _If I'm to die now, I will die a happy girl._ She quickly shook herself out of her shady thoughts and looked down at the table avoiding looking at the other person.

Completely unaware of her predicament, the male took a seat across from her staring at the table in confusion. "Where did all these come from? You ordered them?" He asked and took his plate.

She shook her head quickly, a little bit affronted by his question, "No, I cooked them. You seriously need to restock your food supply." She answered, a little bit proudly before she sobered up when seeing his glare. "Uh, it's just omelette rice. Tea or coffee?"

"Coffee." He answered blandly and dig-in his food and she followed his lead after pouring him his coffee.

It was then that she heard a loud intake of breath and she glanced up bewildered thinking that the man had choke on her cooking. Instead she was greeted by a daze and blissful look, the side of his that she never seen.

"This is delicious." He took another spoonful and closed his eyes and gave out a long happy moan.

_This is better than porn_.She quickly shoved up food into her mouth trying to erase what she had seen. She heard chair being shoved and looked away from her plate and too late she found out her boss had moved closer to, her grabbing her hands. His eyes darker than it usually was.

"Marry me."

Mikan turned red and choked on her food. "Whaaaaat?!"

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Enjoy. ;)


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